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The care4life pilot project extended from October 19, 2012 to June 20, 2013. During this period, Michigan Primary Care Association partnered with Voxiva, Inc., a pioneer in mobile health services and creator of mobile health applications such as text4baby and care4life. Through this partnership, Voxiva gave MPCA member organizations access to care4life the innovative SMS-based, diabetes self-management tool for free.

While the pilot project has ended, MPCA member organizations continue to have access to this beneficial tool.

Care4life is a personalized mobile health program that gives ongoing support to people with type 2 diabetes using the core principles of diabetes care. Care4life includes education about diabetes; tips for managing diabetes; and reminders to test blood glucose, take medications, and record weekly progress on weight, exercise, and medication adherence.

Care4life also includes messages from Paula, a virtual coach, to support patients and teach them about diabetes. Patients can interact with the system by replying to certain text messages and have access to a personal web portal where they can track progress and learn more about diabetes.

All of these great features are available in a package that your clients can take with them anywhere they go, serving as a compliment to the diabetes services your organization already offers!

If your organization has been working with MPCA to plan and implement the use of care4life in your health center, you will continue to receive support directly from the source! Voxiva staff is available to help your organization with everything from clinician training, enrollment efforts, and reporting user data. Additionally resources, such as the MPCA Care4life Planning toolkit and Outreach and Enrollment toolkit are available below.

Why care4life?

Nearly half of all Medicare patients and almost 80% of Medicaid beneficiaries (the highest percentage of any insurance type) who own mobile phones say they text regularly. We also know that 90% of text messages are read within 1 minute of receipt. Plus, text messages are highly targetable and immediate because most people carry their phones with them, a huge improvement over other methods of communication like "snail mail."

Earlier this year in the first large-scale study of its kind in the United States, researchers found that 85% of people with chronic illnesses were able to stick to their prescription drug regimen when they signed up to get text message reminders on their phones- a noteworthy improvement over the 77% who stuck to a regimen using other methods to remember. Adherence rates via text message for those taking diabetes medication were even higher—91% for people who got text reminders vs. 82% who didn't.

Multiple randomized controlled trials have shown significant reductions in HbA1c levels, increases in medication adherence and increases in glucose monitoring as a consequence of text based interventions. Text-based medication and monitoring reminders have been shown to be effective and increase adherence in a wide variety of patients with chronic conditions including diabetes. And, evaluations underway of care4life show users’ participation, retention and active engagement.

So, why not turn all those cell phones and text messages into a way to improve care for diabetic patients?

If your organization has not yet made the commitment to offer care4life, but would like to get started, contact Emilia Guasconi directly at eguasconi@voxiva.com to get started!